xgettext-template

Extracts translatable strings from source. Identical to xgettext(1) but for template languages.

Template language support

• Handlebars (using gettext-handlebars)
• Swig (using gettext-swig)
• Volt (using gettext-volt)
• EJS (using gettext-ejs)
• Nunjucks (using gettext-nunjucks)

React's JSX and Pug are todos (PRs are much appreciated).

Installation

$ npm install -g xgettext-template

Usage

$ xgettext-template [OPTION] [INPUTFILE]...

Options

Input file location:
  -f, --files-from  get list of input files from FILE
  -D, --directory   add DIRECTORY to list for input files search[default: ["."]]

Output file location:
  -o, --output  write output to specified file          [default: "messages.po"]

Choice of input file language:
  -L, --language  recognise the specified language
                  (Handlebars, Swig, Volt, EJS, Nunjucks)

Input file interpretation:
  --from-code  encoding of input files                        [default: "ascii"]

Operation mode:
  -j, --join-existing  join messages with existing file         [default: false]

Language specific options:
  -k, --keyword  look for WORD as an additional keyword

Output details:
  --force-po     write PO file even if empty                    [default: false]
  --no-location  do not write '#: filename:line' lines          [default: false]

Informative output:
  -h, --help     display this help and exit                            [boolean]
  -V, --version  output version information and exit                   [boolean]

More information about each option can be found in the xgettext manual.

In Poedit

Go to File - Preferences... in Poedit and add a new parser in the Parsers tab:

Please note that in this Windows example you have to use xgettext-template.cmd. The .cmd extension should not be there on *nix platforms.

General workflow

In the following Handlebars example translatable content is passed to helpers (_ and ngettext):

<button>{{_ "Sign in"}}</button>

<p>{{count}} {{ngettext "country" "countries" count}}</p>

With Handlebars, this requires helpers being registered:

Handlebars.registerHelper('_', function(msgid) {
  return i18n.gettext(msgid);
});

Handlebars.registerHelper('ngettext', function(msgid, plural, count) {
  return i18n.ngettext(msgid, plural, count);
});

What this i18n object refers to is up to you. Some (client/server) options are:

• node-gettext
• Jed

xgettext-template parses the strings above out of your templates into gettext's PO files. These PO files are then translated and compiled to binary MO files using applications like Poedit. The MO files are passed as input the i18n library (above).

Development

• Clone repository and run npm install.
• Run npm test to lint & test.

Note

xgettext-template initial development was founded by Dijiwan.